EasyJet pilot ‘flew too close to mountains with 190 passengers on board’

The flight was on its way from Manchester to Egypt when the incident happened (Picture: NurPhoto/Getty Images)

An EasyJet pilot has been pulled out of action after he allegedly flew a passenger plane too close to a mountain.

Captain Paul Elseworth was stood down from flying after the hair-raising incident during a flight from Manchester Airport to Hurghada, Egypt.

The plane was reportedly carrying 190 passengers and crew when it flew too close to a mountain on February 2.

This allegedly triggered the warning system in the Airbus A320 cockpit, the Sun reports.

Captain Paul Elsworth (left) has been grounded after the alleged incident (Picture: PA)

What happened in the cockpit before the alarm?

The Ground Proximity Warning System alarm alerted when the plane passed the mountain range at an altitude of 3,100ft, according to the outlet.

The passenger jet cleared the peaks just 771ft away at about 2,329ft – usually, planes would fly over these mountains at about 6,000ft.

An alert then told the pilot to ‘pull up, terrain terrain, pull up, pull up, terrain ahead, pull up’ over terrifying seconds.

A source claimed that the plane descended at 4,928ft per minute before the ground warning system sounded, describing it as ‘ridiculously unsafe.’

The 61-year-old captain Elsworth flagged the incident the following day before he was due to fly back to Manchester, it is understood.

However, the pilot, from Cheshire, was grounded when EasyJet escalated the suspected serious incident, which is being investigated.

Paul Elsworth (right) made headlines with his son Luke, when he became one of the the UK’s youngest ever pilots in 2016 (Picture: PA)

While no one has been blamed for it, Elsworth was stood down from flying in line with protocols and he flew back to Manchester as a passenger.

EasyJet told Metro in a statement: ‘Safety is the number one priority for all our pilots, they are trained to the highest industry standards, subject to rigorous testing and monitored closely.

‘The flight landed normally and as we have an ongoing investigation, the pilot remains stood down from duty in line with procedures.’

The captain told the Sun that it would be inappropriate for him to comment during the ongoing investigation.

Efforts have been made to contact captain Elsworth.

He made headlines with his son Luke in 2016, who is thought to be one of the youngest ever pilots after following in his father’s footsteps into aviation.

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